Blogs

Tonic for a Winter Day

I spent all of yesterday in an uncomfortable chair in a hotel meeting room listening to 35 guys say pretty much the same thing in 35 different ways.

It was the most refreshing day I've had since the last time I was on the selection committee for America's Road Team.

ART is probably the longest-running and most successful image campaign in the business. Each year it recruits a group of drivers who will fan out across the country to deliver - straight from the driver's seat - a message of safety, competence and commitment.

The drivers who are drawn to the tough competition of getting onto the team - many of them million-plus milers with no preventables - are as diverse as the industry but share two things: they understanding that out on the highway we're all in it together, and a passionate commitment to safety. Plus, they're really, really good drivers.

As a follower of industry affairs in Washington, I have learned to mistrust passion - it's often a signal that someone's trying to pull something off. But these guys are real. They tell true stories that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, and they're on the industry's side. We're lucky to have them.

The selection process will continue today. There are more contestants than there are slots, so some will not be chosen, and that's the way it goes. Watch for our news report tomorrow.

Thirteen was a lucky number for a man who was threatening to jump to his death off of an overpass outside Detroit. In her All That's Trucking blog, Deborah Lockridge has the details of how truckers helped troopers on the highway outside Detroit.

Motor carriers are turning down business because they don't have enough truck drivers. Yet the latest turnover numbers are down, and industry hiring is up. Many drivers, when they read articles about fleets facing a driver shortage, will tell you, it’s not a driver shortage, it’s a pay shortage. Are things changing?

It’s been a little over a month since the electronic logging device mandate went into effect, and the transition appears to be a bit bumpy. Deborah Lockridge shares some of what she's heard in her All That's Trucking blog.

In 2017, we reported on a number of products and technologies that we'll likely be seeing on the road in 2019 or later. HDT's Deborah Lockridge highlights some of these announcements in the areas of electrification and autonomous technologies in her All That's Trucking blog.

If the hashtag #MeToo was able to change the national conversation about sexual harassment, could #ELDorMe have the same kind of power for drivers protesting mandatory electronic logging devices? Read more in All That's Trucking blog.

There's no doubt that research and development work on the building blocks of autonomous and automated truck techologies is proceeding apace. It was one of the key themes at the inaugural North American Commercial Vehicle Show in Atlanta recently. But it may yet be quite a while before people truly trust these technologies -- or before large numbers of fleets find them to be a worthwhile investment.

In the quest to attract and retain drivers, these three trucking companies have found that a fleet of colorful tractors is one stepping stone on the path to success. Learn why in Deborah Lockridge's All That's Trucking blog.

Last year, our annual special June fuel issue focused on the question of how feasible it was to hit 10 mpg in real-world operations, not a million-dollar concept SuperTruck. This summer, a couple of initiatives are putting that to the test.

Meritor, in the midst of a three-year push to unveil 20 significant new products as part of its growth strategy, is also looking to a not-so-distant future where electrification will be a major factor in commercial trucks.